Glasgow City Council to fire and rehire over 23,000 employees

Glasgow City Council is to sack more than 23,000 members of staff and then rehire them to new contracts after pay talks broke down with unions.

The local authority says letters will be sent to its non-teaching staff next week, with new contracts then taking effect from 1 January.

Talks earlier this week between the council and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions fell apart on Wednesday when Unison said it would not ballot its members on a proposed new pay offer.

The negotiations concerned plans by the council to implement a new pay and grading system, to replace one that was found to discriminate against mostly women workers. However the move meant 11% of employees would see wages cut.

The council said redundancy notices would be withdrawn if the three unions agreed to ballot their members on the pay offer.

The letters of dismissal will cover every member of non-teaching staff on the council's books, including chief executive Susanne Millar, nursery staff and refuse collectors.

Unions called the move a "scandalous threat" and demanded it be withdrawn.

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